The Worst of Trek-Part 6

How one episode got every single thing wrong.

I wanted to talk about the Star Trek series finale’s for a moment. It’s not easy to end a series, you need to tie up any story lines and also make it exciting and fun for the fans that have been loyal and devoted to the program. Some finales do this better than others (and another article will discuss sitcom finales). In terms of Star Trek, they had five chances to end a series. Two were great, one only ok, and the other, well, that’s what we’re going to talk about today. A series finale which was like a slap in the face to not only the fans, but also the cast and crew.

First, a quick look at the others. “Turnabout Intruder” was the last episode of the original series, but was not really a series finale. The plot had Kirk’s mind being switched with that of a psychotic female. The script could be considered sexist, but I choose to look at the story as if Janice Lester was just insane. This was not the worst episode of the third season, that’s for sure.

“All Good Things…” was the finale for Next Generation. I loved this episode, seriously. I have watched it over and over again and get enough of it. Sure the plot has holes in it, but at the end of the day this was just a great way to end the series (especially after that awful season 7).

“What You Leave Behind” was the finale for Deep Space Nine. This was a wild movie with a lot of action. There was a lot they had to tie up in this one, and the creators did a very good job. I didn’t like what happened to Sisko at the end, but that is just nitpicking. Great way to end a great series.

“Endgame” was the finale for Voyager. I had admitted that I liked it, and I did. It was an exciting episode and it ended with the crew making it home. I was upset at first they didn’t show the crew actually returning to their loves ones, but then I remembered the pilot. The first episode did not establish any loved ones except for Janeway, and we spent no time with them prior to the mission. The series was about the crew trying to find a way home, so when they did the series was over (just like Smallville’s finale, once Clark put on the red and blue the show was over. People complained we should’ve seen more of him as Superman, but that would have been a slap in the face considering the concept for the series which was no tights, no flight).

Of course it would have been nice to see some things tied up. Like what happened to the Marquis, or Seven of Nine. I guess a quick epilogue would’ve been nice. Lots of people hated this episode, and this was considered to be the worst finale of a Star Trek series ever.

Then four years later, we got a show which made “Endgame” look like a work of art. Enterprise had been cancelled, and Rick Berman decided to make the last episode a “Valentine to the fans”. As one commenter put it, if this is Berman’s idea of a Valentine I would hate to be his wife on February 14^th. The cast and crew were upset at the script, and as we discuss it you’ll see why. Let’s dig in and find out why this is not just a bad hour of television, but the worst series finale ever.  

Before diving into the episode let me briefly provide a little background for those who may not know. Enterprise was the fifth series and unlike the others was set before the classic Trek. Scott Bakula was Captain Archer, and on the whole the series was ok. It could have been lots better (why were Vulcan’s jerks in this series?) and it’s too bad they couldn’t have gotten one more season out. However, it was cancelled in its fourth season.

“These are the Voyages….” Begins on the familiar Bridge. We see the crew discussing their plans now that there vessel is being decommissioned. Apparently it is ten years after the pilot, and Archer is working on his speech. They are headed to Earth to sign the charter for the Federation. Everything seems like a normal episode, until a com alert interrupts the man sitting to the side. That man turns out to be Will Riker from Next Generation, and he has been observing his whole exchange. He deactivates the holodeck and leaves.

So here we go with the first problem, this episode takes places sometime within the TNG episode “The Pegasus.” The obvious question is, why? I could deal with Riker and Troi being in it, though I will talk more about that later, but why couldn’t they just set this on a their new ship in a time frame after that last move? Instead they tried to recreate the Next Gen look, the sets are ok but Riker and Troi look much older. On top of that, if you can figure out exactly where this episode fits into “The Pegasus, you’re a better person than me.

So we open on the Enterprise-D and a stock footage shot of ten forward. They CGI’d Riker and Troi into the shot, and overlooked a huge mistake. In the initial pan of the room, you can see the current Riker they added to the scene as well as the original Riker from the episode that the stock footage is taken from. Were they paying any attention?

Anyway, Riker is having a crisis of conscience because if he follows the orders of his previous captain, than he can’t tell Picard what’s going on. If you never saw “The Pegasus” you will be lost, one of the many fails of this episode. Troi has suggested a holodeck program from the old days to inspire him. Riker then goes to the holodeck. We resume the regular cast and as they are headed to Earth they get a distress call from an Andorian named Shran. His daughter has been kidnapped and since Archer owes him, the Enterprise is diverted to assist.

Riker doesn’t just watch the events unfold; he participates by portraying the never seen cook. This allows Riker to interact with the Enterprise cast, including T’Pol who he seems charmed with. Judging by Jolene Blalock’s performance in this scene it was clear that the cast was not happy about the episode.

After a commercial we cut to Riker in the badly re-created briefing room looking at pictures of his former comrades from The Pegasus. We get exposition which would be great if it were in the actual episode this one was crammed into. Troi then goes back to the holodeck with Riker where we see the two on the Bridge, commenting on the changes. We get some references to Picard and Kirk’s ship, as they wander the hallways. They then recreate the crew; we see Trip and Malcolm talking about the end of their voyages which would mean more if the show hadn’t ended early. As they talk Troi mentions how sad it was that Trip would never make it home.

Ok, stop there for a second. First of all, why did they decide to give away the fact that Tripp was going to be killed like that? Talk about a spoiler! Second of all, why did they have to kill Tripp at all? The only characters in Star Trek history (not counting the movies) that were killed off were Tasha Yar and Jadzia Dax. The reason they were killed was because the actors wanted to leave the show, and their deaths were both handled badly. I don't get it, did Rick Berman sit in his office and think, "Well, I've already pissed off the cast and crew but what can I do to make sure that the audience is ticked off? I know, I'll kill off one of the regular characters for pretty much no reason!"

We resume the Enterprise and watch them arrive on Rigel X in time for them to rescue Shran’s daughter. This scene is pretty good, probably the one in the episode that feels like a typical Enterprise episode. After the battle they all return to the ship and part ways with Shran.

We then return to Picard’s Enterprise, where we get an amusing exchange between Data and Troi. I said before it was hard to put “The Pegasus” into the time frame of this episode, but I do think I know where this scene would go. In “The Pegasus” there is a scene where Picard dresses down Riker for hiding information and Riker leaves. I believe that this scene with Troi follows that, of course maybe I am just trying too hard to make sense out of this mess.

Riker enters and talks to Troi about the background from “The Pegasus”. Riker knows he needs to tell Picard but is under orders. Back at the holodeck, Riker talks with the other members of the cast about Archer. This is followed by a touching scene with Archer and Trip where they toast the future. This is interrupted as some of Shran’s business associates attack. They board the ship and demand Shran, who of course already left. In order to save Archer, Trip disobeys a direct order from him and tricks the intruders. He overloads two conduits causing an explosion. Enterprise escapes but Trip is mortally wounded. Since I already ranted about that, let’s move right on.

We see T’Pol and Archer discussing Trip’s passing. Archer feels funny giving the speech, but T’Pol assured him that Trip would have wanted him to. Then we cut to a scene with Riker being the cook again, and Trip walks in. He was the one cast member he had no spoken to yet, and they discuss, well, nothing really. Not sure just what the point was, except that maybe it is here where Riker is supposed to decide that he has to disobey orders and talk to Picard.

Finally we arrive at the hall where the charter is to be signed and Archer will give his speech. Our last shot of the supporting cast shows them in the audience commenting on their seating. Meanwhile Archer is getting ready with T’Pol and Dr.Phlox. They wish him good luck, Archer gives T’Pol a friendly hug and Archer finally makes his way to the center of the room to give a speech which Troi informs us will be memorized by school children in their time. Riker rejoins Troi, who has to come to the conclusion he has to talk with Picard. With that, the simulation ends and we see Troi and Riker walk out of the holodeck. The final shot is a montage of the ships named Enterprise as Captains Picard, Kirk, and Archer recite the "Where no man has gone before" monologue.

Okay, first things first. I liked the montage at the end, it was really cool. However, a thirty second montage can’t make up for this train wreck. It’s amazing really, the end of the episode concludes Riker’s dilemma, and the final scene of Enterprise is Riker and Troi walking out of the holodeck, nodding to each other affectionately. No big final scene with the cast. They took the finale of Enterprise and made it a second-rate Next Generation episode! The cast was miserable shooting this, and it shows. Finally, Riker and Troi don’t look like they did in the original episode and this is to glaring to ignore. The rebuilt Next Gen sets were close, but we’ve seen enough re-runs to know they weren’t exactly right.

I understand this was supposed to be a tribute to Star Trek as a franchise, because their 18 year run was ending, but to cram that into a series finale like this was just plain wrong and short sighted. Rick Berman said in an interview on startrek.com that he never would have done this episode had he known how much people would hate it. I believe him; I think he was so upset the series was cancelled he just didn't think it through. It’s too bad that Star Trek couldn’t go out on a blaze of glory, but we have hours and hours of great television which came before it to make us feel a bit better.

That is it for these "worst of trek" articles, of course that doesn't mean I won't be discussing Star Trek again in fact I already have an idea, we'll see if I can get that out. If you read these I hope you liked them as much as I liked writing them.